Many young Christian men are attracted to their brand of Christianity for political reasons. To be Christian is to be anti-woke. From this view, Christian faith becomes a political and tribal marker as much as or even more important than personal faith. The church, as they define it, chiefly through self-selected online sources, is the shelter against wokeness that will affirm their manhood and succor if not platform their grievances.

Antisemitism among young Christian men is becoming a real problem. Why?

A young evangelical Methodist in Las Vegas recently described this new antisemitism he is seeing, and he explained: “It’s essentially the woke mind virus on the Right.” These young men with whom he talks feel economically “disenfranchised,” they “look for an oppressor,” or in these right-wing circles, a “subversive group (i.e., Jews/Israel),” and they “blame them for foreign policy which leads to lack of prosperity.”

Many quickly respond that criticism of Israel does not equal antisemitism, which can be true. But the new antisemitism targets Israel and Jews more widely, obsessively critiquing Israel without interest in problems by other nations, while faulting Jews domestically for their own personal struggles or for what they see as larger economic or social problems. The Iran War almost certainly will exacerbate this trend.

There are several possible explanations, the chief of which is likely the online nature of young lives, especially young men. For obsessive young internet consumers, without the maturity or experience to be skeptical, and especially prone to what is outrageous, antisemitism is a natural attraction. Online provocateurs can pretend to be brave and naughty by attacking and weaving outlandish yarns about Jews. The young male viewer in front of his screen, unfiltered by a wider physical community, absorbs the outrageousness without filters, the wisdom of community, or the judgement of older, wiser heads.

Young male Christians may physically attend church but they, as many older Christians, find their main authorities online, which they self-collate, often from dark corners that would be unknown to their grandparents (although many older online viewers find their own disturbing online outlets). Pastors and traditional Christian gatekeepers are often inconsequential to young male Christians, who have their own independent spiritual ecosystem. Denominations are irrelevant.

It’s also true that young male Christians want their religion, with their other beliefs, to be very high octane, with clear boundaries, and uncompromising, which ostensibly evinces masculinity and boldness. For many of them, any collegiality with Jews implies a softening of Christianity. Some are hostile to the idea of “Judeo-Christian,” which supposedly dilutes Christianity. Christian leaders who highlight their ties to Jews appear to them weak and compromised. Strong Christians “stand up” to Jews, and their fellow travelers from this perspective.

Another trend enabling hostility to Jews by young Christians is the decline of Dispensationalism and philo Semitism that once were paramount among American evangelicals.

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